Some Pig
by Gingeraffealene
Summary: Not all of Merlin's rescues were epic and angsty. Some were clever and sweet. A snippet from a couple of Merlin's more relaxed days in Camelot. Just for fun.


A/N: Fond nods to both E.B. White and Lloyd Alexander who created such loveable and intelligent piggies. Farmgirl and I were playing writing games back before school hit with the tender caress of a steamroller. This was born of one of her prompts. It's just a bit of lighthearted fun. Here, have a smile!

SOME PIG

"Hi Henwen," said the piggy's favorite human, the tall gangly one who always stopped to scratch behind her ears and never pulled her tail. "How's my little friend today?"

The pig snorted happily, enjoying her friend's continued ministrations and his cheerfully whispered gossip about a king's slovenly personal habits until another human, one of the tail pullers, passed and muttered, "Don't get too attached. This one's destined for the King's table at the end of the month."

"What!" cried the young man in horror and clasped Henwen as close as possible through the fence.

"Just a word to the wise. Don't get attached to the animals in these pens."

The objectionable man sauntered past but her friend stayed behind, still as a statue.

"Don't you worry, Hen," he muttered, "I'll think of something." Her friend glanced up to see one of the old spiderwebs from the pen break free and float off on the breeze. "That's it!" He grinned. Henwen liked his grins. The young man bent toward her again to scratch behind her ears and whispered, "I'll see you tonight, Hen!"

_m_

Henwen snorted as the small night herd of humans loudly clattered by, temporarily blocking her view of the stars above. Moments later she heard someone's knobbly knees knock up against her pen. She snorted again in alarm.

"Shhh, Hen! It's just me!" A familiar gentle hand moved to scratch behind her ears. "Good thing it's a still night! No breeze! Perfect. My handwriting is messy at the best of times. Well, we'll just hope for the best, eh?"

Henwen sat back on her haunches as her favorite person raised a hand toward the shabby roof of her pen. The silver starlight playing upon the gossamer strands of spider silk above her head sparkled brightly as two golden orbs gleamed in the dark. The shining strands of web rearranged themselves in a pattern that made no sense at all to Henwen. If her friend were hoping to catch supper with such a web he would certainly be disappointed. There were large loops and gaps in the pattern-if you could call it a pattern. The silver glow dissipated along with the glow of her friend's eyes. The young man chuckled his happy sound. Henwen liked his chuckles. "See you tomorrow, Hen!" Then with another knock of knobbly knees against the rough boards of her pen, he was gone.

_m_

The next morning, Henwen was rudely awakened by horrible shrieks issuing from the slop-girl. "Writing! It looks like writing!" More humans began to congregate. "What does it say?" "How should I know?! I can't read! Can you?" "No!" "Find someone who can read and see if it's a real message!" The crowd around Henwen's pen continued to grow and whispers of "sorcery!" traveled from mouth to mouth.

By dawn half the castle had come to see the strange web stretching across the top corner of her pen's roof. Henwen strutted proudly about beneath her friend's creation. A knight with curling hair squinted at the web above her head, pushed his way back through the crowd and sprinted in the direction of the castle. Not long after, the crowd parted for a person with shining yellow hair behind whom was, once again, her favorite human with the dancing blue eyes. The crowd of commoners whispered amongst themselves.

"Who discovered this...this.. anomaly?" demanded the man with the yellow hair in what Henwen considered to be a rather pompous voice.

The poor slop-girl, trembling hard enough to shake her braids loose, spoke up, "I-I did, Sire."

"Have you noticed any sorcery like this before?" inquired the pompous one, narrowing his eyes.

"N-n-nnno, Sire!" spoke the terrified girl.

Henwen looked to her tall friend as he rolled his eyes and carefully but firmly shoved his way past the loud man, to the front of the crowd. He looked kindly into the girl's eyes. "It's okay, Amy," he whispered comfortingly and smiled one of his beautiful smiles. Henwen liked his smiles. He bent down to smile at Henwen but was suddenly gripped by the pompous man.

"Don't! Can't you read, Merlin?! It says it's ensorcelled! Don't get too close!"

Merlin flashed a small wink at Henwen. "Oh, yes. True. Thank you, Sire."

"Ensorcelled! Ensorcelled! It says ensorcelled!" The whispers passed through the crowd like a breeze. The keeper now pushed his way to the front.

"Sire, this was to be the pig at your feast. It would probably be best if we simply destroyed it."

"Oh dear, no!" cried Merlin. "Killing an ensorcelled animal is the worst thing you can possibly do!"

"And just how do you happen to know such a thing, Merlin?" asked the Sire man.

"I read it in one of Gaius' books, Sire. If you spill the animal's blood, it unleashes a curse upon the land."

Sire, cocked his head and narrowed his eyes at Merlin as Henwen took a moment to snuffle a tasty morsel of slops she'd missed that morning.

"Well then, _Mer_lin, since you seem to be so well-read on this subject, what in heaven's name SHOULD we do with it? I can't have enchanted animals running amok in the very heart of Camelot!"

Henwen snorted and exchanged exasperated glances with her friend, who seemed to share her sentiments.

"Fortunately, Sire," Merlin's voice dripped with sarcasm, "The pig is not running amok. However, it IS highly unadvisable that the pig stay in Camelot. It will need to be taken across the border into another kingdom."

"Fine. You seem to know what you're talking about. See to it that the ensorcelled pig is taken across the border. And, Merlin, make sure that it doesn't find its way back!"

"Yes, Sire!" Merlin replied smartly.

"Oh! And Merlin," Sire's voice lowered conspiratorially so that only Henwen and Merlin could hear, "Take care of this personally. Drop it over the border of Essetir… I-uh don't want to harm any of our allies. And DON'T let anyone know where you're taking it. I wouldn't want to start any wars over an ensorcelled pig." He straightened up and bellowed, "Leon! Search the area for any other signs of sorcery! Have the kitchens inspect all the food stores!..."

Later that afternoon, Merlin, loaded Henwen into the back of a cart, scratched behind her ears and set off in the direction of Essetir.

"Hen, you're going to love my mum!"


End file.
